


The Honesty Police strikes again

by Original_Cypher



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Comfort, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-18
Updated: 2012-01-18
Packaged: 2017-10-29 18:26:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/322812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Original_Cypher/pseuds/Original_Cypher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Damon is on his own listening to the party, and someone has a suprising piece of wisdom for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Honesty Police strikes again

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers: Up to now.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own them. I'm just playing. I'll give them back. Maybe.  
> A/N: Didn't really come out how I meant it to. *shrugs*

One thing about vampire hearing, is that, without noticing, you find yourself recognizing people from afar as they approach. From their heels, their car, their limps, the way they walk or even their heartbeats. Damon sits in the silence of the setting sun on the steps of the back porch. He listens to Elena's sudden burst of laughter and her friend's clap. He listens to Stefan and Matt talk cars and makes a face. He listens to Elena dance and he wishes, he _wishes_ he could tune it out.

Stefan is back. Stefan is okay, he's compulsion and blackmail free. And Damon is very happy for that.

He won't say it, but Stefan knows it all the same.

What they both know too is that it's time for Damon to step back and let the prodigal white knight ride off into the sunset with the beautiful princess.

The steps he hears coming towards him are definitely not ones he expects.

She smells like roses and lilac.

He always thought she was a vanilla girl. Yet, he should know better.

Her stilettos make dull thuds against the stone as she sits next to him and stares into the darkening landscape. “How are you doing, Damon?”

“What's got you so motherly tonight?” He asks, then adds. “Towards _me_ , I mean.” She's not famously known for liking him. Not that he hasn't given her every reason to hate him.

“Maybe I wanna start again.” She says, and turns to face him. “You love Elena and would die for her in a heartbeat. We've got at least that in common. Maybe we can build on that.”

Caroline's eyes are soft and caring, but also determined as if she's making that very pledge right now. Make peace, be friendly, die for Elena. All at once.

He gazes at her with a fondness that feels alien to him. She has no idea how much the two of them are alike. They're one and the same, except he's a century and a few decades in the making. He used to be just like her. Loyal and benevolent and... stopped _dead_ in the middle of growing up. “Fair enough.”

“Everybody should have someone to ask them how they are.”

“I don't deserve it.” He states it flatly, not looking for pity. He's just saying a truth.

She looks at him and frowns briefly, thinking. “I think you're starting to. And.. anyway, care isn't given to people that deserve it. It's given to people that need it. Or else it's not care, it's hypocrisy.”

Care. Caroline.

He smiles. He really likes this girl. She's so bitchy and always poking at the wounds and never leaving anything to rest. So candid, so hopeful. So... deadly. There's really something there.

He wonders if that is what little sisters feel like. “I'm fine, Caroline. Thank you for... caring.” he meets her eyes and tries to make her believe his words beyond the smirk. “I would just like to be elsewhere for the first tentative kiss, you know? Be out of the way.” Why is he talking about this?

“You really love them both so much you're willing to hurt yourself.” Caroline doesn't sound surprised. She sounds awed.

Which, at something _he_ 's done, feels so strange. “Didn't Stef do just the same for me for a year?”

She shivers and shifts a little closer, he lifts an elbow for her to curl her arm around and under.

“You don't have to stay with me.” Damon says, bumping their shoulders together gently. “I promise I'll find the strength to go on living.” He thinks. “And make an appearance and pretend to smile.”

She makes an amused noise and ducks her head. She stays.

It's against Damon's nature to stand back and not try to steal Elena from him. Then again, it's in his nature to love his little brother and do anything for him. And somehow, doing everything he can for this one girl has also become part of it. Let it never be said that Damon Salvatore doesn't have layers. He would like to forget about it, thank you very much, but he has them.

It hurts to pull away and leave the coast clear for them to reconcile. But it would hurt a thousand times more to make her chose. It would tear _her_ apart, and that he could barely stand, and she'd eventually end up rejecting him. Because she loves Stefan more, maybe. Probably, at least partly, because she couldn't stand being so versatile as to pick Damon now after she's been with his brother.

He doesn't care about the why. He knows how it makes him feel.

“I'd had a lot of crap to take in my life.” Caroline says softly. “Just to list a few.... my dad leaving us. Me being mocked because he left us for a guy. My multiple love fails, including you, asshole.” she pushed at him. “My two successes, one I had to leave to let him have a good life. Maybe that sounds familiar to you. And one that I needed to get away from because fucking Klaus changed him.” she sighs. “We've all lost so many people. And yet I'm still standing.”

“Yep.”

“You wanna know how?”

Damon looks at her, then. “How?”

“My strength doesn't lie in the fact that I don't get hurt.” she says, looking ahead at the night. “I do. I'm me. I can't help it.”

“You can.” He reminds her. “You can turn it off.”

She gives him a look. “Yeah? How's that working for you?”

Touché. “...okay. So where does your strength lie, oh wise one?” He says in a mocking tone.

"I get hurt. I take it. I reel. I get back up again and prepare for the next one.” She recites as a well practiced philosophy.

“You rise again.” he says wistfully.

“I do.”

And suddenly he feels it. He doesn't need to turn it _off_. He needs to turn _everything_ on. Everything else. Everything that's good. And she just reminded him... there are so many awesome things in the world. Starting with...

He pushes up and extends a hand to her, facing her confused stare. “Can I have this dance, Miss Forbes?”

“I'm not sleeping with you again, Damon.” she says as she lets herself be pulled up.

“I know!” He protests, leading her inside. “I just want to dance.” he smirks at her. “Maybe do some shots. With my new friend.” he says with a little bow at her.

She giggles and considers him. “Okay.”

Later, they all gather together and he offers a toast. “To rising again.” he says, and Caroline thrusts her tumbler up in approval. Stefan smiles, joins in, along with the rest of them. Elena looks happy.

And now they'll prepare together for the next blow. Key word: together.

“To rising again.”


End file.
